I always thought that fishing charters were for people who know how to fish.

I mean, I know one end of the pole from the other, but that’s about it. But my son recently decided that he loves fishing and wanted to learn more about it, so we headed out into the Gulf off of Steinhatchee with Captain Tommy Thompson. I was a bit apprehensive that one of us would hook the other one by the ear while casting, but Captain Tommy made sure we knew exactly what to do. In minutes, he had us casting confidently enough to avoid any near-misses with our earlobes (and each other’s).

Lines in the water, earlobes intact.

After some more advice, Captain Tommy even got us to the point where we could predictably control where we cast. Then he began to fill us in on techniques we could use to make our lures irresistible to fish. Lo and behold, it worked!

Success, thanks to Capt. Tommy's advice.

Now that we know beginners are welcome on fishing charters, it’s definitely something we’ll do again.